1. allotment, allocation; contribution, assessment; quota, lot. 4. allot, parcel out, deal out, dole, mete. 7. Share,partake,participate mean to join with others or to receive in common with others. To share is to give or receive a part of something, or to enjoy or assume something in common: to share in another's experiences. To partake is to take for one's own personal use a portion of something: to partake of food. To participate is especially to join with others in some thought, feeling, or, particularly, some action: to participate in a race, in a conversation.

share2

[shair] /ʃɛər/

noun

1.

a plowshare.

Origin

before 900;Middle English;Old Englishscear; cognate with GermanSchar. See shear

share1

/ʃɛə/

noun

1.

a part or portion of something owned, allotted to, or contributed by a person or group

2.

(often pl) any of the equal parts, usually of low par value, into which the capital stock of a company is divided: ownership of shares carries the right to receive a proportion of the company's profits See also ordinary shares, preference shares

3.

(informal) go shares, to share (something) with another or others

verb

4.

(transitive) often foll by out. to divide or apportion, esp equally

5.

when intr, often foll by in. to receive or contribute a portion of: we can share the cost of the petrol, six people shared in the inheritance

6.

to join with another or others in the use of (something): can I share your umbrella?

Derived Forms

sharable, shareable, adjectivesharer, noun

Word Origin

Old English scearu; related to Old Norse skor amount, Old High German scara crowd; see shear

"portion," Old English scearu "a cutting, shearing, tonsure; a part or division," related to sceran "to cut," from Proto-Germanic *skaro- (cf. Old High German scara "troop, share of forced labor," German Schar "troop, band," properly "a part of an army," Old Norse skör "rim"), from PIE root *(s)ker- (1) "to cut" (see shear).

Meaning "part of the capital of a joint stock company" is first attested c.1600. Share and share alike attested from 1560s. The same Old English noun in the sense "division" led to an obsolete noun share "fork ('division') of the body at the groin; pubic region" (late Old English and Middle English); hence share-bone "pubis" (early 15c.).

"iron blade of a plow," Old English scear, scær "plowshare," properly "that which cuts," from Proto-Germanic *skar- (cf. Old Frisian skere, Middle Low German schar, Old High German scar, German Schar, Dutch ploegschaar, Middle High German pfluocschar), from PIE root *(s)ker- (1) "to cut" (see shear).

v.

1580s, "to apportion to someone as his share; to apportion out to others; to enjoy or suffer (something) with others," from share (n.1). Meaning "to divide one's own and give part to others" is recorded from 1590s. Meaning "confess one's sins openly" (1932, implied in sharing) is from "the language of Moral Rearmament" [OED]. Related: Shared; sharer; sharing.